STAFF WRITER – The Ontario Construction Report
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has started an anti-dumping investigation into rebar imported from Belarus, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal and Spain.
The investigation was initiated in response to a complaint filed by Canadian producers ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada, G.P., Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation and AltaSteel Ltd.
“We appreciate the CBSA’s commitment through this investigation to ensuring that fair trade in imports of rebar will be respected,” Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) president Joseph Galimberti said in a statement. “It is vital for domestic steel producers and their employees that market based competition in Canada is preserved. This is an important investigation for the 22,000 Canadians employed directly and the 100,000 employed indirectly in steel.”
This is the second investigation into unfairly traded rebar in Canada in the past two years, CSBA said in a news release. A previous investigation into unfairly traded rebar from China, Korea and Turkey resulted in the imposition of duties against these three countries in 2015. It also follows on the heels of the recent decision by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) to extend its anti-dumping and countervailing duty finding on imports of hot-rolled steel sheet and strip from China, Brazil, India and Ukraine into Canada.
The CSPA and its member companies believe in fair and effective enforcement of trade remedy laws which support Canada’s ability to quickly respond to dumped and subsidized imports. In light of the increased volume of unfairly traded goods entering the Canadian market, the CSPA views investigations like this one as critical to ensuring member companies and their employees are able to compete fairly in the global market.
“Our membership will continue to vigorously defend against unfairly traded, dumped and subsidized steel products which may include the initiation of additional trade cases on hot-rolled, cold rolled, coated flat and other steel products,” said Galimberti. “The recent improvements the Government of Canada has made to our trade remedy framework are helpful and we look forward to additional near term legislative enhancements to address unfair trade in Canada.”
In a report on the anti-dumping investigation, lawyer Brenda Swick of Dickinson Wright PLCC says “this investigation may adversely affect foreign producers and exporters, as well as Canadian importers, distributors, retailers and end users of rebar.”
“If the CSBA makes a dumping determination and the CITT finds that such dumping is causing material injury to the Canadian industry, anti-dumping duties will be applied to all shipments of rebar for the next five years.”
She advocates that end users should take measures to protect their interests, including advocating for a ‘no injury’ finding, applying for an exclusion, or requesting a public interest hearing.